FTSE 100 movers: Persimmon falls on Halifax data; Vodafone gains

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 7,614.35 in afternoon trade on Wednesday. Housebuilder Persimmon was in the red after Halifax data showed that annual house prices fell in May for the first time since 2012 amid surging mortgage costs.

House prices declined 1% on the year following 0.1% growth in April. On the month, prices were flat in May following a 0.4% decline the month before, and the average price now stands at £286,532.

Kim Kinnaird, director, Halifax Mortgages, said: "As expected the brief upturn we saw in the housing market in the first quarter of this year has faded, with the impact of higher interest rates gradually feeding through to household budgets, and in particular those with fixed rate mortgage deals coming to an end.

"With consumer price inflation remaining stubbornly high, markets are pricing in several more rate rises that would take Base Rate above 5% for the first time since the start of 2008. Those expectations have led fixed mortgage rates to start rising again across the market."

Primark owner Associated British Foods, Next and Frasers Group all gained, with traders pointing to possible read-across from Zara owner Inditex, which posted a jump in first-quarter sales and profit as it said its spring/summer collection had been well received.

Vodafone rose following a report that it and CK Hutchison are in the final stages of agreeing to merge their British operations, with a long-awaited announcement expected as soon as Friday or early next week.

According to Reuters, the structure of the agreed deal is in line with Vodafone's announcement in October, with the British group owning 51% and Hutchison owning 49%, achieved by adjusting the ownership of debt rather than exchanging cash.

FTSE 100 - Risers

BT Group (BT.A) 150.30p 4.34% Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,915.50p 4.10% Ocado Group (OCDO) 371.80p 3.74% Melrose Industries (MRO) 520.20p 3.38% Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,254.00p 1.90% Vodafone Group (VOD) 78.37p 1.89% Glencore (GLEN) 439.25p 1.86% Next (NXT) 6,598.00p 1.79% Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,645.50p 1.45% Frasers Group (FRAS) 705.00p 1.29%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Admiral Group (ADM) 2,346.00p -1.92% Croda International (CRDA) 6,128.00p -1.79% SEGRO (SGRO) 816.60p -1.61% BAE Systems (BA.) 925.80p -1.51% SSE (SSE) 1,852.50p -1.49% Convatec Group (CTEC) 203.80p -1.36% Persimmon (PSN) 1,236.50p -1.12% Fresnillo (FRES) 674.80p -1.08% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,782.00p -1.00% Entain (ENT) 1,292.00p -1.00%